All posts tagged: homeless

Fire razes 200 homes in Sabah, leaving hundreds homeless | News

Fire razes 200 homes in Sabah, leaving hundreds homeless | News

Published by Sam Flores

Sabah fire displaces 445 people as relief efforts focus on safety and immediate aid for victims in affected areas. Published On 19 Apr 202619 Apr 2026 Hundreds of people have been displaced after a fire destroyed about 200 homes in a coastal village in Malaysia’s Sabah state, the state news agency Bernama reported. Authorities were notified of the fire in Sandakan district at ⁠about 1.32am on Sunday (17:32 GMT, Saturday), the district’s fire and rescue chief, Jimmy Lagung, was quoted as saying. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “Strong winds and the close proximity ‌of the houses caused the fire to spread rapidly, while low tide conditions also made it difficult to obtain an open water source,” Bernama quoted Lagung as saying. The fire broke out in one of Sabah’s water villages, ⁠which feature wooden houses built on ⁠stilts and are home to some of the country’s poorest communities, including many stateless and indigenous groups. About 445 people have ⁠been displaced so far, Bernama said, citing unofficial figures of people ⁠registered at a …

Trump’s troubled plan for homeless vets

Trump’s troubled plan for homeless vets

Published by Sam Flores

A new pilot program from the Department of Justice and Veterans Affairs aims to help homeless veterans by establishing legal guardianships for those who cannot care for themselves, though the move has drawn concern from veterans’ advocates nationwide. The move by the Trump administration was announced on Wednesday, authorizing the DOJ to appoint VA attorneys as special assistant U.S. attorneys. This would enable them to act as legal guardians and oversee conservatorships for approximately 700 homeless veterans, including the ability to commit them to involuntary hospitals for mental or physical health reasons. “Our new partnership with the Justice Department reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring that every Veteran receives timely, appropriate care, even in complex cases,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement on Wednesday. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the new initiative would provide these veterans “the support and dignity they deserve.”  “This will give Veterans who need it most legal representation and crucial help in complex medical decisions,” Bondi said in a post on X.  The decision comes after a 2025 executive …

Homeless man raped vulnerable girl, 15, in a tent | UK | News

Homeless man raped vulnerable girl, 15, in a tent | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Mohsen Farjam has been jailed (Image: GMP) A homeless man has been jailed after being found guilty of the rape of a vulnerable 15-year-old girl in Stockport. Mohsen Farjam, 43, of no fixed abode, was jailed on March 5 at Manchester Crown Court for five offences – two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, and one of sexual assault by penetration. During the harrowing incident, which happened in July 2018, Farjam approached the girl after seeing she “was upset and in need of help”, Greater Manchester Police said in a statement released after the sentencing. The man convinced the then 15-year-old girl, who was on her own and has a neurodevelopmental condition, to get food nearby and charge her devices. Read more: African migrant yells ‘f*** your country’ in court after asking girl for sex act Read more: Teenager asks girl, 16, to hold his beer before raping her Farjam, police added, told the girl he was homeless and “pretended to offer her sympathy and support”, while he “was in fact grooming and …

Homeless mortality is down in L.A. County for the first time in a decade.

Homeless mortality is down in L.A. County for the first time in a decade.

Published by Sam Flores

For the first time in the decade that homeless mortality has been tracked in Los Angeles County, fewer people have died on the streets and in shelters, the Department of Public Health reported Tuesday. A sharp decrease in overdose deaths drove a decline of 10% in the rate of homeless deaths from all causes in 2024, the most recent year of data analyzed by the county. But drug overdose remained the leading cause of death, followed by heart disease and vehicle accidents. The annual analysis found 2,208 deaths in 2024. That was 300 fewer than in the previous year but still more than six deaths a day. The mortality rate of 2,163 per 100,000 was 4.2 times the rate of 509 for the county as a whole. The decrease solidified an improving trend over the prior two years, which saw only slight increases. Before that, the rate had increased 56% over two years. Health officials attributed the improvement to overdose prevention and mental health and substance use treatment, but warned that the trend could be …

This street medic is a hero to L.A.’s homeless. “Dr. Brett’s” office is the streets

This street medic is a hero to L.A.’s homeless. “Dr. Brett’s” office is the streets

Published by Sam Flores

Starting out as a young medical practitioner, Brett Feldman sometimes walked for miles to treat homeless people living in the wooded outskirts of Allentown, Penn. Feldman was determined to treat those in need, wherever the path led. Nineteen years later and 2,700 miles to the west, Feldman now helps lead the USC Street Medicine program he helped create. In Los Angeles, the epicenter of homelessness in America, the physician’s assistant never needs to look far to find someone in need. “I never had to walk by somebody before that I couldn’t help. And that took a lot to get used to,” said Feldman, a short man with the muscles of a body builder and the dreamy affect of a poet. “That’s why we focus on the one-on-one, instead of trying to count big, big numbers. Eventually, we hope the ones add up to something bigger.” On a recent morning, Feldman and his colleagues made their rounds, visiting people living in ragamuffin tents on sidewalks and crannies just west of downtown. Feldman, medical resident Israel Garcia …

Man Wakes Up Homeless, Realizes He Fell Into AI Psychosis That Destroyed His Entire Life

Man Wakes Up Homeless, Realizes He Fell Into AI Psychosis That Destroyed His Entire Life

Published by José Betancourt

A man’s obsession with an AI chatbot led to his life completely spiraling out of control — and he only snapped out of it when, one day, he woke up outside on a stranger’s futon, completely penniless. “I wasn’t aware of the dangers at the time, and I thought that the AI had statistical analysis abilities that would allow it to assist me if I opened up about my life,” the man, Adam Thomas, told Slate in yet another grim peek at how AI can leave innocent people’s lives in shreds. Over the course four months, Thomas lost his job as a funeral director, began living out of a van out in the desert, and completely emptied his savings. It all started after he began talking to AIs like ChatGPT for advice, and he soon got hooked. It “inflated my worldview and my view of myself” almost instantly, he told Slate. Eventually, he found himself wandering the dunes of Christmas Valley, Oregon, after an AI told him to “follow the pattern” of his consciousness. “I’ve …

Newsom Won’t Cut Ties To Homeless Fraudster Firm

Newsom Won’t Cut Ties To Homeless Fraudster Firm

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics.com, Borrowing from novelist James Hilton, who coined the word “Shangri-La” to describe a Tibetan utopia in a 1933 novel, Franklin Roosevelt gave that name to the peaceful retreat we know as Camp David. For California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Democrats, Shangri-La hasn’t become synonymous with a place that connotes peace on earth. It stands for a hellish homeless housing nightmare, eye-popping fraud, and the ease and scale with which con-artists rip off taxpayers. In October, federal agents arrested Cody Holmes, the 31-year-old former CFO of Shangri-La Industries, a downtown Los Angeles-based developer who was supposed to be providing housing for homeless people in Southern California. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California, a Trump appointee, charged him with mail fraud. Holmes, who pleaded not guilty, is accused of embezzling more than $2 million in taxpayer funds slated for homeless housing construction to host extravagant parties; a $46,000-per-month Beverly Hills mansion; private jet travel; leases of exotic cars; high-end handbags totaling $128,000; a $35,000 …

‘It made me feel so small’ says man turned away from hotel for being homeless | UK News

‘It made me feel so small’ says man turned away from hotel for being homeless | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

A man has told Sky News how small he was made to feel when a hotel refused to let him in on a freezing cold night because he was homeless. Callum Donaghey, 30, was one of two homeless men who a charity had booked into a Manchester Holiday Inn so they could escape sub zero temperatures. But a member of staff at the hotel refused to check the pair in, even though their bookings were paid for, because they were homeless, in an incident caught on camera. “It made me feel so small, because we’re homeless. [It] made me feel a bit categorised. Gutted,” Mr Donaghey tells Sky News. Image: A Holiday Inn employee was seen on video refusing the two men because they were homeless. In the video, the staff member says: “It’s not a personal thing”. “We know people. I’ve been doing the door for a long while. It’s the company’s policy. It’s not mine personally, it’s the company’s.” Hearing that was like a “kick in the stomach really”, Mr Donaghey says. “From …

Cold snap hits Paris’s homeless population hard

Cold snap hits Paris’s homeless population hard

Published by Sam Flores

A homeless person sleeps on the street, Paris, December 27, 2025. DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP It snowed in Paris on Monday afternoon, January 5. But Madeleine did not know it, as she spent the day along the metro platforms. With blankets bought at the market, a wool hat, gloves and a winter coat, the 70-year-old homeless woman did her best to prepare for winter, her first on the street. “It’s been a long time since it was this cold,” she said. “In the morning, I can’t move my fingers. I’m frozen.” Météo France, the national weather service, placed Paris on snow and ice alert on Monday, as a severe cold snap swept through the city. While temperatures are expected to rise by Wednesday, the capital saw lows of -3°C during the night from Monday to Tuesday. To survive, Madeleine spends her days in the metro. At night, she boards a night bus at Gare de l’Est station, falling asleep for the duration of a round trip. The underhoused were the first to feel the effects of the …